15. PALEOLIMNOLOGY OF EXTREME COLD TERRESTRIAL AND EXTRATERRESTRIAL ENVIRONMENTS PETER T. DORAN ([email protected]) Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences University of Illinois at Chicago 845 W. Taylor St. Chicago, Illinois 60607-7059, USA JOHN C. PRISCU ([email protected]) Land Resources and Environmental Sciences Montana State University Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA W. BERRY LYONS ([email protected]) Byrd Polar Research Center Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA ROSS D. POWELL ([email protected]) Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences Northern Illinois University DeKalb, Illinois 60115, USA DALE T. ANDERSEN ([email protected]) SETI Institute Center for the Study of Life in the Universe 2035 Landings Drive Mountain View, California 94043, USA and ROBERT J. POREDA ([email protected]) Earth and Environmental Sciences University of Rochester Rochester, New York 14627, USA 475 R. Pienitz, M.S.V. Douglas and J.P. Smol (eds), 2004. Long-Term Environmental Change in Arctic and Antarctic Lakes. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands. 476 DORAN, PRISCU, LYONS, POWELL, ANDERSEN AND POREDA Key words: Extreme environments, Antarctica, Perennial lake ice, Ice-sealed lakes, Mars, Exobiology, Lake Vostok, Subglacial lakes, Sediments, Water column Introduction The study of environments that exist near planetary extremes has become a research area of considerable contemporary importance. Our understanding of life’s environmental limits has been largely modified as discoveries and evidence of functional ecosystems are reported in places such as the deep ocean, hot springs, deep beneath the Antarctic ice cap, and deep within the Earth. These discoveries have led to a separate field of interdisciplinary study focused on life in extreme environments. A working definition of an extreme environment is one where physical and chemical conditions approach or exceed the perceived tolerances for life (Benchley et al. 1998). Some organisms can thrive under these conditions and not survive in more clement environments. A key impetus for studying extreme environments is to understand the origin and evolution of life itself. Life originated on our planet when a select set of environmental conditions allowed molecules to organize themselves into self-replicating entities. Defining the boundaries of those conditions is essential to our understanding of life’s origins on our planet and other extraterrestrial bodies. Liquid water is essential for all life on Earth, including life that exists in extreme environments. Therefore, the study of inland waters (limnology) is by definition an essential element in the study of life in extreme environments. In temperate regions, extreme aquatic environments can be found mostly as a result of hypersalinity (e.g., salt lakes) and heat (hot springs). In polar regions, extreme aquatic environments are created by cold hypersaline water bodies, thick permanent lake ice covers, and the combined effect of high pressure, aphotic, and oligotrophic conditions in subglacial lakes. In this chapter, we consider these polar extreme limnological environments, and in particular the historical record preserved by them. We also provide a discussion of the connection between these polar extreme environments and water bodies that may exist elsewhere in our solar system, notably Mars and Europa. Perennially ice-covered lakes A number of lakes exist in the polar regions that maintain their ice cover throughout the year. The list in Tables 1 and 2 is not meant to be exhaustive as there are undoubtedly numerous lakes not accounted for here, particularly glacier-contact lakes at high altitudes. Impact of perennial ice covers Perennial ice covers have numerous effects on the underlying water column including: (a) reduction of light penetration, (b) reduction of gas exchange between lake water and PALEOLIMNOLOGY OF EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS 477 Table 1. Documented perennially ice-covered lakes in the Arctic. Location Ice (m) lat. long. Selected References 1. Angiussaq Lake, 2-2.5 77º00’N 66º08’W Barnes 1960 Greenland1 2. Pond at Rundfjeld, 5.5 78º05’N 81º04’W Blake 1989 central Ellesmere Island2 3. Ziegler Island, Franz < 2.4 81º00’N 56º02’E Panzenbock et al. 2000 Joseph Land3 4. Lake A, northern 2 82º08’N 78º00’W Belzile et al. 2001; Ellesmere Island4 Gibson et al. 2002 5. Ward Hunt Lake, 4 83º01’N 74º02’W Villeneuve et al. 2001; Ward Hunt Island R.A. Wharton, pers. comm. 1At least one other smaller lake nearby also reported to be perennial 2Pond was frozen to bed in winter. 14C date indicates lake has not thawed in > 5000 yr 3Single unnamed lake in the centre of the island 4Lake C nearby believed perennially ice-covered but not studied the atmosphere, (c) reduction in water column mixing, and (d) alteration of sedimentation pathways (Wharton et al. 1989; Gibson et al. 2002). Although all of these effects are important in defining the modern ecosystem of the lakes, and therefore the character of sedimentary deposits, the alteration of sediment pathways is likely the most important to paleolimnology. When a perennial ice cover is present, sediments can either be blown across the lakes or get deposited on the surface. In either case, sedimentation within the lake is altered. Sediments that get trapped in the ice will be warmed by the sun and melt into the ice to a depth that is largely related to the sediment grain diameter (Hendy 2000a). The depth to which any sized sediment can sink through this ice is limited, and layers of sediment collect at the dynamic equilibrium between particles melting downward and the ice cover moving upward through ablation and ice growth. This process forms sediment layers and associated lenses or inclusions of liquid water in the ice cover at approximately 2 m beneath the surface (Fritsen et al. 1998; Priscu et al. 1998). Beyond this level in a thick ice cover, sediment has to make its way through cracks in the ice, resulting in heterogeneous ridges and mounds of sediment on the bottom (Figure 1). Additionally, different lakes and different areas of lakes have varied rates of sediment accumulation on the ice, so that this process is not consistent across all lakes (Adams et al. 1998). Arguably the most studied perennial ice-covered lakes occur in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica (77-78ºS, 160-164ºE). These lakes occur along the valley bottoms and are mostly closed basins. Groundwater exchange in the lakes is believed to be minimal, but remains largely uninvestigated. A previous review of the paleolimnology of these lakes is given in Doran et al. (1994a), and they are also treated in Hodgson et 478 DORAN, PRISCU, LYONS, POWELL, ANDERSEN AND POREDA al. (this volume). The McMurdo Dry Valleys comprise a cold desert ecosystem, with mean annual temperatures ranging between -14.8 to -30ºC, and annual precipitation (all as snow) usually < 100 mm/yr with as little as 7 mm recorded in a single year (Doran et al. 2002a). Dry valley lake levels and lake ice thicknesses are constantly fluctuating in Table 2. Documented perennially ice-covered lakes in the Antarctic. Location Ice (m) lat. long. Selected References 1. Bunger Hills, < 3 66º03’S 100º08’E Doran et al. 1996, 2000 various1 2. Frames Mountains, 3.5-4+ 67º08’S 62º08’E Pickard and Adamson 1983; MacRobertson Land, Chambers et al. 1986 various 3. Vestfold Hills, 2.5-5+ 68º05’S 78º00’E Pickard and Adamson 1983 various 4. Larsemann Hills, ?-2.2-? 69º03’S 76º00’E Gillieson et al. 1990; various2 D.A. Hodgson, pers. comm.; J. Burgess, pers. comm. 5. Schirmacher Hills, 1.6- > 3 70º08’S 11º07’E Bormann and Fritzsche 1995; various3 Gore 1997 6. Beaver Lake, 3-4 70º08’S 68º03’E Laybourn-Parry et al. 2001 MacRobertson Land 7. Ablation Valley4 2.5-4.5 70º08’S 68º04’W Heywood 1977 8. Central Dronning 2.2-3.8 71º04’S 13º04’E Bormann and Fritzsche 1995; Maud Land, various5 Loopman et al. 1986; Wand et al. 1997 9. Citadel Bastion 3.7 72º00’S 68º03’W D.A. Hodgson, pers. comm. Lake, Alexander Island 10. McMurdo Dry 3-19 77º00’S 163º00’E Wharton et al. 1989; Valleys6 Chinn 1993; Doran et al. 1994a, 2002b,c 11. Lake Wilson 4 79º08’S 159º06’E Webster et al. 1996 1Only ice contact lakes at edge of oasis (mostly epishelf) 2Lake Ferris (LH11) and small lake to the north of Lake Oskar (LH18), L22, L25 (lake names from Gillieson et al. 1990, but ice observations unpublished) 3Ice thickness data limited. Perennially ice-covered lakes are all epishelf (at least 6 lakes) 43 proglacial lakes: Ablation, Moutonée, and another unnamed 5Lakes Untersee, Obersee and Burevestniksee 6Appoximately 20 permanently ice-covered lakes and ponds (Doran et al. 1994) PALEOLIMNOLOGY OF EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS 479 Figure 1. Sand mound on the bottom of Lake Hoare in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. The leg of a sediment trap can be seen in the top of the image. Figure 2. Perched deltas on Crescent Stream in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Person standing on distant delta for scale. Perennially ice-covered Lake Fryxell is in the background. 480 DORAN, PRISCU, LYONS, POWELL, ANDERSEN AND POREDA Figure 3. The food web in McMurdo Dry Valley lakes. HNAN is heterotrophic nanoflagellates. DOC is dissolved organic carbon. The X covers organisms not found in this ecosystem. response to changing climate, primarily summer temperature (Chinn 1993; Fountain et al. 1999; Doran et al. 2002b). The current lakes have been suggested to be remnants of much larger glacial lakes that occupied the valleys during the last glacial maximum (LGM) (Stuiver et al. 1981; Hall and Denton 2000a; Hendy 2000b). Sediments from these lakes stranded on the sides of the valleys (Figure 2) provide useful information on the paleoclimate and the history of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (Stuiver et al.